Date of Award
9-20-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Agriculture, MSA
First Advisor
Tina Teague
Committee Members
Dennis Morris; Michele Reba; Terry Spurlock
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2016 K45
Abstract
The Mississippi Alluvial Plain has some of the most productive landscape for production agriculture in the world. This area also is known for highly variable soil within agricultural fields. In response to high input costs, many Midsouth cotton producers seek to improve input use efficiency using precision agriculture approaches including use of site-specific application of fertilizers, seed and other inputs directed at sub-regions of spatially variable fields. These sub-regions are known as management zones. One barrier to producer adoption of this type of site-specific management is a lack of practical guidelines for defining management zones tailored for the Midsouth region. The focus of this study was to provide baseline data for developing decision guides for implementing zone management within cotton production systems in northeast Arkansas which includes use of conservation tillage systems with winter cover crops. The study was conducted on three commercial farms within the Little River Ditches Watershed. Management zones were delineated using information regarding soil texture characteristics, feedback from the producers and their crop advisors, and historical yield monitor data. Soil texture maps were established from indirect measurements of soil electrical conductivity using a Veris 3150 EC Surveyor instrument®. There were paired fields on each farm with one planted in a cereal winter cover crop and the remaining conventionally managed. Differences in plant growth and development including measures of earliness and yield and fiber quality, in the management zones were validated through collection of soil moisture, plant, and insect pest monitoring data, as well as from hand-picked and machine harvested yield data. Among management zones, differences in plant maturity, productivity and fiber quality were observed with lower yields and earlier maturity associated in field areas with coarse sands and clay in comparison field areas with loamy sands. Results show potential in using soil electrical conductivity-based decision rules for defining management zones in spatially variable fields in northeast Arkansas. Cereal cover crops did not impact yields either season, but there were benefits in that there reduced numbers of early season arthropod pests (thrips) were observed in cotton with terminated cover crop compared to no cover crop. Results from this study provide baseline data for developing practical production guidelines for producers to use zone management with cover crops. Expanded on-farm adoption of these practices has potential to improve resource use and reduce production costs which ultimately should improve farm profitability while reducing negative environmental impacts.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Erin Jane, "Spatial and Temporal Variability of Mid-South Cotton Grown on Heterogeneous Soils with Cereal Cover Crops in Northeast Arkansas" (2016). Student Theses and Dissertations. 637.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/637
